It all happened so fast.
I felt my hooves touch the ground as vision came to me. I was standing on solid, flat dirt. Dust rapidly flew through the air, only a few meters away from me on all sides. Through the vortex of airborne sand and dirt, I saw the silhouettes of several figures moving about chaotically. Immediately, my ears were assaulted by the unmistakeable sound of a warzone. Gunshots rang through the air with the shouts of countless people accompanying them. The world around me seemed to undulate with unbroken conflict.
I guess most people would hate showing up in the middle of something like this, I thought, grinning. I don’t know exactly what’s happening, but honestly, it’s pretty dang exciting.
After all, I wouldn’t want my first steps in this world to be through some peaceful meadow, or anything of the sort. I was ready to take on whatever came my way.
The shadow of an airborne figure flashed over me, taking my attention away from my surroundings. I looked upwards, and my confidence immediately vanished.
A grey Pegasus, with a short, messy black mane and tail was looking back at me mid-flight. He was in motion, clearly ascending, and quickly. If facial expressions were able to convey sentences, there would be one thing that the look in his eyes told me: I’m sorry.
The sounds of the battle around me faded. The noise produced by dozens of gunshots disappeared, the clanking and grinding of machinery and vehicles in the distance dwindled away, and the shouts and screams echoing about stopped almost immediately. It was almost eerie, having nearly all the noise produced by an all-out war cease at once. Everyone around me was able to tell that something was happening. Something immense. What I hoped wasn’t happening, but undoubtedly was.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a few others also looking upwards, their eyes locked on the scene. A pale green Unicorn with a rust orange mane and blue eyes was closest to me. Not far from him stood a bright red Earth pony with a black, curly mane and brown eyes, and a tall Earth pony with a dull red coat, short brown mane and amber eyes. Further off in the distance sat a dark blue Earth pony with a golden mane, who appeared to be in a vehicle which doubled as a protective cage. They each had especially dark expressions.
My full attention snapped back to the pegasus, whose outline was getting smaller and smaller in the sky. This was not the flight of a pony who was charging into battle, or aimlessly flitting about. All observers and I could tell this was the flight of somebody who was running. Leaving with absolutely no intention to return.
Why? was the only thought that came to mind.
A wave of grief washed over me as I froze, unable to do anything other than stare upwards as a single gray feather slowly descended, stopping to rest at my hooves. I picked it up, and stared at it.
I could hardly think. Sadness bore into me, almost making it feel as if my chest was being torn apart. I had never felt an emotion of any kind on this level of intensity. I nearly toppled over as my wings instinctively shot out, and I regained my balance. Trembling, I tried my best to regain my composure, disappointed in myself for letting emotions affect me to such an extent. Nonetheless, I was feeling hollow, empty, knowing there was nothing I could do in that moment, other than accept the fact that this pony was leaving. Where, I didn’t know. I hated not knowing. I hated being blind to anything.
Why would I care? Why would anybody care? What made it so that this event would stop a battle in it’s tracks? The answer was simple. This pegasus was none other than Alder himself.
There are many potential issues that can arise within any government in which too much weight, too much responsibility, is resting on the back of one person. This was exactly the case with Alder. This nation depended on him too much. Maybe this is one of the reasons I was given so much information before I arrived here, I thought, realizing that without my knowledge of Alder and his position in this world, I would have no idea as to why his departure meant so much. Searching back through my knowledge, I came to a terrible realization: the very war that had been going on moments earlier had been lead by Alder. Now, he was gone, unable to command his own army.
I inhaled deeply. In that moment, I knew why I was here. What my purpose was.
In the absence of a leader, I was meant to take over. I was meant to do whatever I could until the day he returned. If he ever did.
My eyes darted about, and then came to focus on the uniforms the people around me were wearing. The majority of them were fairly simple in design, covered by standard green and brown camouflage, with a large red and yellow patch on the side of each, with text that read ‘SOLARIAN ARMY’. Fewer had dark blue uniforms with a slightly more ornate design, with the silver words ‘LUNARIAN ROYAL GUARD’ on their patches. I scanned through my knowledge to find that Alder was the leader of this ‘Solarian Army’.
Seriously? How had I not already known that? There’s hardly a thing about that pony I don’t know! I yelled at myself, hoping that the stress of the situation wasn’t dampening my ability to think. Perhaps I was overloading myself, attempting to piece together facts to figure out what on earth exactly was going on. Why is this war being fought? On whose territory did it start? Has it spread? What world leaders are involved? What are my priorities? Is there anybody I need to ensure the protection of? Deep down, I knew the answers to all of these questions. I simply couldn’t access them in the moment. Panic started to arise and my heart rate increased, though its source wasn’t what I initially thought it to be. I was under pressure for certain, yet I felt as if there was something slightly more urgent that needed attention. ‘Slightly more urgent’ was an understatement.
The soldiers around me were starting to resume movement, no longer paying attention to Alder, as he was out of sight by now. They shuffled about, holding nervous expressions, clearly unsure of what to do.
The sound of grinding metal stopped everyone in their tracks yet again. I looked to my left, and was faced with the source of my panic. What I saw was something that I had been unconsciously wary of since the moment I knew Alder was leaving.
Through the haze of dust that was slowly settling back down after the Solarian Army and the Lunarian Royal Guard halted their conflict, I saw eyes. They weren’t the eyes of a pony, nor the eyes of any other living creature I knew of. They were simply rings of light surrounded by black. They were clearly the eyes of a machine. Yet, they had a terrifying presence, as if there was intelligence buried somewhere deep behind them. They shone a bright blue, quite literally glowing.
I didn’t need any knowledge to know that this thing was dangerous. It was not merely a ‘thing’; it was destruction itself in physical form. Something that shouldn’t exist.
Worst of all, something was very, very off about it, as if somebody had hit a switch to activate something, as if it had just changed its behavior. It seemed to lock its cold, emotionless eyes with mine as every last instinct of mine screamed at me to run. Through the cloud of my instinctual urges, I was somehow able to access the information I had regarding this creature out of pure desperation. It too was a part of the images I had seen earlier. It wasn’t in very many of them, but it was enough.
All panic of mine was replaced with rage.
“ALL SOLDIERS, ATTENTION! IT DOESN’T MATTER WHO’S SIDE YOU ARE ON, YOU NEED TO CONTAIN THAT MACHINE, IMMEDIATELY!” I yelled at loudest volume my lungs would allow.
I expected hesitation. I expected resistance, defiance, anything of the sort. None occurred. Some people didn’t even bother to look at me before launching into action.
Soldiers from both sides started making their way towards the tall robotic beast in a thunderous stampede. Dozens upon dozens, possibly hundreds of ponies, with an occasional Anthro thrown into the mix bravely threw themselves at the creature, some taking a more strategic route by creating formations around it, which would hinder its ability to escape if it ever needed to actually do so. The booming sound of war, which I had arrived in earlier, returned.
I could see it more clearly now, and saw that it was exactly as I knew it. Standing at the massive height of three meters, it took on the shape of an Alicorn, otherwise known as a winged Unicorn. Made primarily of silver metal of some sort that covered its entire surface, it looked nearly indestructible. It had large mechanical wings, of which when unfurled showed their bladed edges on each titanium feather, like a collection of swords that could all strike at once. Its horn was long and spiraled, and buzzed with electric energy, ready to be unleashed at a moment’s notice. It stood on strong legs, clearly capable of high running speeds and immense physical power.
By now, several people had already died. There were few who looked as if they actually knew how to handle this creature. Many Lunarian Guard soldiers launched themselves head-on at this creature holding various weapons, which they hoped would have a chance at piercing its armour, but not a single blade even grazed the surface of the shining metal. Anyone who attempted this was immediately given a fatal kick, or a single swipe of its swiftly moving wings before getting close. Most Solarian soldiers maintained their distance and fired bullets, small missiles, or chemical bombs, which had no effect on it as far as I could tell and only succeeded in injuring their comrades, who were foolishly testing out close combat. Not once did the machine ever have to utilize the deadly horn on its forehead, which I knew had capabilities beyond anything it was doing at the moment.
I didn’t feel the need to step in quite yet. I needed to stand by and evaluate the potential of this army. I wanted to curse at them for their never-ending stupidity, and give them further orders, but I held my tongue.
The deadly machine lowered its head, and stepped forward in my direction, its hooves falling on some of the soldiers it had mercilessly killed moments earlier. I nearly didn’t make it out of the way in time as a neon blue laser shot out, blasting through the empty air in which I had stood a split second earlier. I beat my wings rapidly, jetting into the air. I didn’t risk hovering in one place for too long as I realized this thing was not only after those who directly confronted it now. It was after anyone in sight, including me, and would stop at nothing.
The first laser was soon followed by a second one, which didn’t look as powerful as the first. It’s conserving its energy. This thing really is intelligent, I thought as I swooped out of the way just in time yet again. As it targeted me, it hadn’t let its defenses against the horde of soldiers down in the slightest. It moved quickly, dodging anything that actually had a chance of causing damage to it, and simply deflecting anything weaker. The soldiers were making no progress with this thing. They were merely annoying it, if even that. I doubt it’s even capable of feeling annoyed… anymore. Or feeling at all, actually. I thought, a few images from history flashing through my mind yet again.
Yet another person fell to the machine’s bladed wings, and I finally decided that enough was enough. I couldn’t afford to lose this many soldiers at once. Some were backing off from the machine, hesitating to attack it, others had abandoned the assault altogether, and several were starting to give me questioning glares. They were starting to wonder whether or not I was a good leader, and more importantly, who I was. I could see it in their eyes. I had to take this thing on myself if I had any hope of containing it. It seemed that most had already forgotten that they were supposed to find a way to subdue this thing so it could be contained, not actually try to destroy it. As of then, I could tell it couldn’t be killed. An army alone isn’t enough.
I landed, staring directly at the machine. I bottled all of the rage I held for this thing, and prepared to let it loose.
Right before I propelled myself towards the destructive mechanical alicorn, the pale green unicorn I had noticed earlier stepped up to me. He glared at me for a moment, eyeing me with unhidden suspicion.
“Who are you?”
I turned to him, smirking. “Your new leader. For now, at least.”
I launched forwards, creating a trail of dust behind me. The unicorn stood there, a dumbfounded expression on his face. I laughed, knowing that nobody would be questioning my authority after what I would do next.
“You know the one thing this machine’s armor can’t withstand? Fire,” I yelled, making sure everyone in sight could hear me. Everyone engaging the machine in battle flung themselves out of the way, expecting me to pull out some sort of terrifying weapon. I guess there’s no going back now. After this, the only way I’ll be able to rule is through fear. I was barreling through the air towards the towering alicorn so quickly now that I didn’t even have to flap my wings to stay in motion. Three… two... one… NOW!
I unleashed the ability I had known I had since the dawn of my existence. My right hoof ignited in golden-red flames, which didn’t burn me, yet seared at temperatures far higher than that of an average fire. I was now a few milliseconds away from striking the metal creature which stood its ground in front of me, and I had activated my ability on such a short notice that it didn’t have time to react.
My hoof struck the machine directly in the chest, leaving a large dent and causing some of the metal to glow orange, clearly on the verge of melting. Soldiers around me gasped in surprise. Immediately, I threw myself backwards as a wall of crackling energy appeared around the alicorn, and disappeared in a second. A force field, huh? I thought, stabilizing myself in the air and darting in to land another flaming punch. My hoof met empty air. The machine was now directly above me, and in another second slammed into the dirt, creating a small crater in the ground which I surely would have been at the bottom if if it hadn’t been for my lifesaving agility.
This thing is moving fast. Far too fast. Something that large shouldn’t be moving like that, it looks like it weighs nearly a ton.
The machine was no longer in the crater it had created, as I expected. A silver blur entered my sight in the corner of my eye and quickly disappeared behind me. I ducked, hearing a steel hoof whisk through the air above my head. I made a motion that would give the impression I was attempting to flee, but instead whirled around and struck the alicorn with all four ignited hooves. It fell back slightly, four indentations in it’s neck and chest glowing a bright orange. This caused almost as much damage as my first attack had, yet I didn’t have the speed behind it I had during my initial assault. I hovered backwards, anticipating its next move.
That was a mistake.
It’s horn began to glow, slowly growing brighter. Six tennis ball sized orbs of blue light appeared around it, and then shot outwards. They sailed in the air aimlessly for a moment, and then started streaking towards me, each leaving a trail of laser-like light behind them. I spun out of the way, letting them fall past me. I was almost about to laugh until they turned around mid air, and were heading in my direction once again, no slower than they were before.
They’re just like guided missiles, I thought, dodging and darting about frantically as the orbs relentlessly pursued me. Dang, I should have kept attacking! I shouldn’t have given it any time to cast this kind of spell.
The world spun as I put all of my energy into escaping the assault. The machine was doing nothing other than standing there, with it’s horn remaining lit. It’s cold eyes locked on me, regardless of where I went. Wait, it obviously has full control over these things. It has to focus on me in order to target me with them. If only I could distract it, I would be able to continue attacking!
Just then, one of the laser orbs slammed into my side. I cried out in agony as the orb exploded into a shower of sparks, and disappeared. I kept myself airborne, but breathing was becoming difficult, and the pain in my side was proving difficult to endure. I quickly glanced at the damage, and saw that all of my caramel colored fur and some of the skin in the area it hit was gone, and there was an unnatural looking dent, spotted with bruises. It felt as if a few of my ribs were broken. I started to falter in the air, realizing I would have to land soon.
I started to cough repeatedly. The soldiers below me looked on with both fear and disappointment. In between my heaving breaths, I managed to give further orders, knowing by now that it was necessary. “I need as many soldiers as possible to go and distract that monster, in any way possible. Don’t risk yourselves as you did last time, keep your distance from that thing!” With that, I landed, crumpling on the ground.
I could see the blue orbs heading my direction yet again, and it wouldn’t be long before they caught up with me. There wasn’t much I could do in the moment to counter that. Heh, I didn’t think I would need any help from the army, looks like I was wrong. It’s too bad I don’t know much about that machine, otherwise it’d be long gone by now.
I closed my eyes, hoping the soldiers would follow my command. I couldn’t focus well on what they were doing due to the distracting pain in my side, which had hardly subsided. Slowly, blurry images I had seen before began to replay through my mind. One after another flashed by, until they spun into a dizzying sequence of events.